Westerns of the 60's: The Magnificent Seven

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As I said earlier in a posting, the 1960's marked a turning point for the movie Western. When the decade began all the Old West stories were being put on television. But it was director John Struges that took a bold step into giving the genre new blood. The movie was The Magnificent Seven. Based on the Akira Kurosawa film The Seven Samurai the movie is set in a small Mexican town it which a parade of bandits (lead by Eli Wallach as Calvera)

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seize the town and steal anything they want. Desperate for help they hire seven gun fighters: Chris Adams (Yul Brynner), Vin (Steve McQueen in a breakthrough role), Harry (Brad Dexter), Bernardo (Charles Bronson), Britt (James Coburn), Lee (Robert Vaughn), and Chico (Horst Buchholz).

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With his men Chris tries to take the bandits out.

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The movie workes on two fronts: The acting (which includes great lines) and Elmer Bernstein's music score. Although the death scenes between some of the characters are cheesy and among the worst you'll see in any movie, it still hold up and as a result, The Magnificent Seven is a testament that the Western had just left the 1950's period with John Wayne and into the genre of that decade in which the Italian Western would become the rage in the 60's. In the end this movie would be followed by three sequels.

Here from YouTube is a montage of clips from the movie:

magnificentsevenclips